


Hallucination

by sshysmm



Category: Lymond Chronicles - Dorothy Dunnett
Genre: Book 4: Pawn in Frankincense, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Tinnitus, aural hallucination, the band Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2021-01-26 23:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21382603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sshysmm/pseuds/sshysmm
Summary: Archie looks for an explanation for Lymond's behaviour, set aftershaky hands.--Written for Whumptober 2019, set in the Band AU I've been writing (see collections).--There's 31 of these ficlets and I apologise profusely for burying other work in the tags. I will *always* tag these as 'the band au' and you can usethis nifty extension (ao3rdr)to block the tag if this isn't your thing and isn't what you want to see in the Lymond tags!
Kudos: 5
Collections: Ficlets in the Lymond Band AU for Whumptober 2019





	Hallucination

**Author's Note:**

> [Originally posted on tumblr, October 22 2019.](https://notasapleasure.tumblr.com/post/188513615960/whumptober-22)

Archie stood over the hunched form, careful to give him space. The frenzy with which Lymond had ended their set might have fooled the audience into supposing that he was some nihilistic rock god, but Archie had never seen the lad abuse an instrument like that before. Even the scruffiest, unstringed or out-of-tune child's toy was treated gently and caressed into its potential of sound. Destruction was applied only to the man, not the instrument.

Lymond sat in fastidious stillness, his elbows on his knees and eyes closed. The long, fine musician's fingers were raised to each temple. He shivered minutely with the effort of maintaining relaxation in his features: the jaw was not clenched, the eyelids were not screwed shut, and the forehead was smooth and unruffled.

"When did it begin?" Archie asked softly.

A ripple crossed the calm skin between Lymond's brows and his mouth twitched. "Mid-set," came the crisply spoken response, at a great cost of effort.

Archie hiked up the legs of his baggy grey jeans and crouched, peering closely at the suffering before him. He tried to discern the tension that might point to a location for Lymond's well concealed pain. But like the zoo animals he used to treat, his patient preferred to suffer in silence: to Archie, this was a familiar instance in which co-operation could not be relied upon.

Nevertheless, one had to try. "Is this the first time it's happened?"

The lips pressed more firmly together, and the fine vertical line above the bridge of Lymond's nose became a deep crevasse. He swallowed and forced pale blue eyes open. "On stage, yes."

Archie lowered his chin and raised his brows. This level of honesty worried him more than anything else about the symptoms.

Lymond's pupils were strained, pin-head small, and the mesh of expressive lines around the eye sockets creased warily with each movement. It wasn't the drug he'd been stuck on, but the lack of it, letting something else through that had remained hidden before now.

"Tell me. Is it sharp and high, like a whistle? Or roaring like a waterfall? Are there other signs when it happens?"

Lymond licked his lips carefully, testing the movement before he released a shaky breath. "The former. It's...'I felt as though the whole of nature were screaming'." He paused, his gaze drifting beyond Archie for a moment. "There is pain with it. That lasts longer."

Archie pressed more questions on him, but Lymond seemed to have reached the limits of his helpfulness. His hands flexed on his knees, squeezing, clenching, seeking a sensation that would distract from the phantom sounds assailing him. Then, the agony returning, his face crumpled and his palms moved to cover his ears.

It was a reflex that could do no good: the noise was inside his own mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Francis is quoting Edvard Munch this time.


End file.
